I Would Like to be the First to Congratulate Santorum...

[Politico]

...for winning the support of Michigan Democrats who want to see Obama face Santorum, not Romney.

And it was well-deserved considering Santorum is making robocalls to Democrats right now as we speak:

http://m.townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2012/02/28/santorum_robocalls_michigan_democrats_help_me_stop_romney

Has any Republican ever robocalled Democrats looking for votes in an open primary before? What was it the jmfcst called Santorum?

[Secretary of Labor Earthling]

Yes, Mitt Romney voted in 1992 for Tsongas. But that off course is not a problem.

[ajb]

Yes, Mitt Romney voted in 1992 for Tsongas. But that off course is not a problem.

Definitely not, since Romney voted for Tsongas as a vote against extremism in either party.

‘I'm not a partisan politician,’ he said. ‘My hope is that after this election, it will be the moderates of both parties who will control the Senate, not the Jesse Helmses.'"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/30/paul-tsongas-mitt-romney-vote_n_1242600.html

[Whacker77]

I suspect it might be wise for DC residents to wear flame retardent clothing because I get the sense many senior Republicans will set themselves on fire tonight if Santorum wins.  Actually, it sounds like he might because Romney is out whining about dirty tricks today.

[Keystone Phil]

Has any Republican ever robocalled Democrats looking for votes in an open primary before?

Has a Republican ever appealed to Democrats before for support? Nope. Never.

To answer your specific claim, yes, Republicans have obviously targeted Dems in open primaries.

[Lief]

You realize that the Republican candidate in the general election is probably going to have to win some Democratic voters if they want to beat Barack Obama, right? Mitt Romney is supposed to be the moderate pragmatist who can appeal to independents/Dems anyway.

[Secretary of Labor Earthling]

No, he did it for a other reason:

During his '08 White House bid, it was revealed that Romney voted for Paul Tsongas (D) in the 1992 Democratic primaries. Romney's explanation at the time: "When there was no real contest in the Republican primary, I'd vote in the Democrat primary, vote for the person who I thought would be the weakest opponent for a Republican."

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/28/10529940-flashback-romney-voted-in-92-dem-primaries

[ajb]

No, he did it for a other reason:

During his '08 White House bid, it was revealed that Romney voted for Paul Tsongas (D) in the 1992 Democratic primaries. Romney's explanation at the time: "When there was no real contest in the Republican primary, I'd vote in the Democrat primary, vote for the person who I thought would be the weakest opponent for a Republican."

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/28/10529940-flashback-romney-voted-in-92-dem-primaries

That's his 2008 account of why he did it. I'm referring to his 1994 account of why he did it.
As with many things about Mitt Romney, there's more than one version.

[Lief]

Basically, whether you believe his 1994 version or his 2008 version of why he voted for Tsongas, he's a hypocrite for criticizing Santorum for attempting to have voters do the same.

[Secretary of Labor Earthling]

Oh, he is flip-flopping. Surprising.

[Politico]

Has any Republican ever robocalled Democrats looking for votes in an open primary before?

Has a Republican ever appealed to Democrats before for support? Nope. Never.

To answer your specific claim, yes, Republicans have obviously targeted Dems in open primaries.

Source? I've never heard of a Republican robocalling Democrats and using liberal rhetoric in a GOP primary. Even if he wins now, this is the story. Conservative backlash is imminent.

[ajb]

Has any Republican ever robocalled Democrats looking for votes in an open primary before?

Has a Republican ever appealed to Democrats before for support? Nope. Never.

To answer your specific claim, yes, Republicans have obviously targeted Dems in open primaries.

Source? I've never heard of a Republican robocalling Democrats and using liberal rhetoric in a GOP primary. Even if he wins now, this is the story. Conservative backlash is imminent.

Should there be a conservative backlash, I suppose that would benefit Newt. And we'd just go round the circle one more time.

[Likely Voter]

Santorum isn't trying to appeal to the blogosphere Occupy types in his own version of Operation Chaos. he is trying to use his blue-collar image (which isn't really true but whatever) to appeal to some Dems in MI. MI had lots of so called "Reagan Democrats" so why not try to appeal to Dems who see Romney as Mr. 1%.

That being said, IIRC, Santorum trumpeted how Romney only got close in IA because of support of indies and dems.

[Politico]

Has any Republican ever robocalled Democrats looking for votes in an open primary before?

Has a Republican ever appealed to Democrats before for support? Nope. Never.

To answer your specific claim, yes, Republicans have obviously targeted Dems in open primaries.

Source? I've never heard of a Republican robocalling Democrats and using liberal rhetoric in a GOP primary. Even if he wins now, this is the story. Conservative backlash is imminent.

Should there be a conservative backlash, I suppose that would benefit Newt. And we'd just go round the circle one more time.

Yes, I get the feeling this is the likely result at this point regardless of whether Romney or Santorum wins Michigan. A really unwise decision by Santorum's team to actually robocall Democrats. Huge blunder that is going to cost them heavily among Limbaugh, Hannity, et al. Just wait till Gingrich pounces on this...

[True Federalist]

Thing is, I think those Democrats who prefer Santorum over Romney because they think Santorum is the weaker opponent will end up with a severe case of "be careful what you wish for".  Mr, 1‱ has a lot of weaknesses that Santorum does not, and the weaknesses that Santorum has are things that any Republican is going to get attacked by the Democrats anyway.

[Senator Snowstalker]

What happened to the end of trolling?

[argentarius]

What happened to the end of trolling?

[Politico]

What happened to the end of trolling?

How in god's name is this trolling? I am reporting on the Atlas the first time a Republican presidential candidate has robocalled Democrats in a GOP primary. Am I not allowed to do that? This is already spreading among conservative blogs and email chains. Go to Drudge or anywhere like that. It could end up being the story tonight regardless of the results in the primary.

Sometimes it feels like some of you just want the Atlas to become the irrelevant, red-headed little brother of Democratic Underground...

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

We don't like you, Politico.

[asexual trans victimologist]

Politico's Romney hackery was actually a lot more fun when it was trolling. There was an element of camp performativity to it that made it much more interesting than this.

[Pictor Ignotus]

Politico hasn't posted much lately. Let him have this one.

On the other hand, at some point Romney and his supporters need to realize this race is about getting votes, not just having the best resume. Politico (and Romney) have decried Santorum as less than conservative on economics and Politico has definitely implied he's appealed to labor in the past. Now Santorum is basically admitting that to a degree. Guys, can't have it both ways- can't say he's pro-labor and then whine when he goes after labor votes. Or when you implied that big labor liked Santorum, were you not telling the truth?

[Politico]

We don't like you, Politico.

If you just want Democratic hackery, go to Democratic Underground. Honestly, I think a lot of you would be happier there, especially a lot of the Democrats who have not been here for years.

This place used to be a lot more relevant, entertaining and informative.

[a Person]

What happened to the end of trolling?

We don't like you, Politico.

[Politico]

What happened to the end of trolling?

We don't like you, Politico.

http://www.parties-and-elections.de/

[Politico]

Politico hasn't posted much lately. Let him have this one.

On the other hand, at some point Romney and his supporters need to realize this race is about getting votes, not just having the best resume. Politico (and Romney) have decried Santorum as less than conservative on economics and Politico has definitely implied he's appealed to labor in the past. Now Santorum is basically admitting that to a degree. Guys, can't have it both ways- can't say he's pro-labor and then whine when he goes after labor votes. Or when you implied that big labor liked Santorum, were you not telling the truth?

I am not whining about it, nor am I denying it, but I am miffed that I got lambasted before being proven right about "Operation Backdoor" and Santorum's hobnobbing ways with union stooges.

Anyway, this thread is going into Al Gore's lockbox since I can no longer even report news without being given a hard time...